INSECT-DESTROYING BIRDS. 145 



CHAPTER LXVI. 



THE PALLID CUCKOO. 



( Cacomantis pallidus, Lath.) 



We now come to two birds, which, for their size, are 

 probably the best insect-destroying birds in Victoria. 

 The Pallid Cuckoo also the Narrow- billed Bronze Cuckoo 

 are the only two birds which, in my experience, will eat 

 the common Vine Caterpillar (Agarisf a glycine) and larva 

 of the Cut Worm (Agrofis). In many parts of the colony 

 this bird is still fairly common, but anywhere near to Mel- 

 bourne it has been shot or otherwise destroyed, so that it 

 is much rarer than it was in the early days when there 

 were no railways to convey shooting parties on their 

 mission of destruction to bird life, all and sundry. The 

 cuckoos are most singular in their economy, and Messrs. 

 North, A. J. Campbell, and Keartland, and others of our 

 Victorian ornithologists could doubtless relate some 

 curious experiences with these birds, some of the habits 

 of which are most interesting. These birds are migrants 

 in Victoria, usually arriving in the early spring, and 

 taking their departure in the autumn, passing the winter 

 in tropical Australia. They are early risers and their oft- 

 repeated notes may be heard long before daylight, and 

 frequently as late as nine p.m. They are generally seen 

 singly or in pairs, but never in flocks. Although they 

 frequently deposit their eggs in the nests of the smaller 

 Honey eaters, the Wattlebird, Mud Lark, Oriole, and 

 English Linnet also act as foster-parents to this Cuckoo. 

 The egg of the Pallid Cuckoo (C pallidas) closely 

 resembles those of the Yellow-tufted Honey-eater (Ptilotis 

 auricomis)^ they are, however, somewhat larger, and of 



11597. K 



